1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus and a method of controlling the same, and more particularly to a cleaning technique for carrying out cleaning after replacement of ink cartridges and a warning technique for issuing a warning when the ink jet recording apparatus is left without an ink cartridge.
2. Prior Art
Conventionally, there has been proposed an ink jet recording apparatus which is capable of carrying out cleaning operation automatically after replacement of ink cartridges for delivering ink therefrom, so as to ensure reliable printing operations and positively fill a recording head with ink.
The cleaning operation is an operation of drawing ink by suction from an ink reservoir within an ink cartridge mounted in the ink jet recording apparatus into a cap arranged in a non-printing area of a printing mechanism of the ink jet recording apparatus via nozzles of the recording head, so as to prevent the nozzles from being clogged and remove air bubbles from ink passages.
In the cleaning operation, the recording head is hermetically capped, and then a pump creates negative pressure in a gap formed between the recording head and the cap. As a result, ink is drawn from the recording head into the cap, whereby the recording head is cleaned.
The conventional ink jet recording apparatus has no problem in cleaning when a new ink cartridge is mounted therein immediately after removal of an old one. However, if the apparatus is left without an ink cartridge for a long time, ink remaining within the recording head (i.e. within the ink passage and the nozzle) dries and solidifies.
As a result, a cleaning operation performed when an ink cartridge is mounted in the apparatus after a long interval requires an increased amount of ink to be sucked from the ink cartridge through execution of an increased number of times of cleaning, which shortens the service life of the ink cartridge. Further, the amount of waste ink which is not used for actual printing is increased, which results in an increase in running costs.